Chapter 79 – Love and Hate

It turned out that Gu Shoulu had been spouting so much nonsense to lull everyone into complacency to buy time for the Black Tortoise to activate its skill.

The Black Tortoise was an immensely powerful divine beast. Its defense was the strongest among all known spirit beasts. In team battles, Gu Shoulu would become the sturdiest defense wall for his teammates.

However, the Black Tortoise could not serve as an offensive spirit beast. It wasn’t that it lacked attacking capabilities; rather, its attack speed was too slow, requiring a long time to set up.

Thus, Gu Shoulu chose to delay time.

He knew that Li Zheng and the others must have many questions in their hearts. He exploited this to set a trap, seemingly distracting Li Zheng and the others with his chatter while the Black Tortoise burrowed underground. It altered the soil structure to ensnare Li Zheng and company in one fell swoop.

Gu Shoulu knew that Li Zheng could fly, so he coordinated with the black boulders on the ground, causing a massive rock to fall from the sky as well.

The rocks enclosed Li Zheng and the others within, and Gu Shoulu stretched out his hands, gently pressing them together.

If the rocks collided, even a Golden-Winged Great Peng would die under such an attack.

Unexpectedly, Li Zheng remained calm, looking at Gu Shoulu with pity and shaking his head. “President Gu, when you were delaying time, didn’t you think about how familiar I am with your combat style? Why would I let you waste time? Do you really think I’m stupid?”

Gu Shoulu was slightly taken aback. His gaze swept over the trapped fighter jet, Wu Ailang and the Snow Wolf, Li Zheng and the Golden-Winged Great Peng, as well as the clam that was stuck in the rock with its shell tightly closed, refusing to come out.

All enemies were trapped within the giant rocks. Divine beasts like the Bai Ze and Azure Dragon had already entered the Youying Academy. Who else could come to save Li Zheng and the others?

Just as Gu Shoulu was pondering in confusion, his body suddenly froze.

The rocks that were closing in also stopped moving in place.

Gu Shoulu desperately tried to mobilize the Black Tortoise’s power but found that the Black Tortoise had entered a state of hibernation at this crucial moment. No matter how he called, it wouldn’t wake up.

“What… is… this… all… about…” Gu Shoulu’s body became increasingly stiff, making it difficult for him to speak.

Li Zheng said, “While you were wasting time, I was waiting for the Crimson Chi to infiltrate underground and freeze your and the Black Tortoise’s blood.”

The Black Tortoise’s skin was too thick for the Crimson Chi to instantly freeze its blood. But similarly, precisely because of its thick skin, its perception was poor, unable to detect some subtle attacks.

No, it actually did sense it, but it didn’t warn Gu Shoulu.

To avoid being absorbed of soul power by spirit beasts again, Gu Shoulu had used the power of the Spirit Beast Codex to control the Black Tortoise and counter-absorb power from it, increasing his own lifespan.

He could force the Black Tortoise to fight, but he couldn’t control its inner feelings.

If the freezing power of the Crimson Chi would kill the Black Tortoise along with him, then the Black Tortoise would remind Gu Shoulu for the sake of its own life.

But humans and spirit beasts had different tolerances. If Gu Shoulu’s blood froze, he would die, but the Black Tortoise would only enter hibernation.

Of course, the death of a spirit bond master would cause considerable harm to the spirit beast. If Gu Shoulu utilized the spirit bond to retaliate against the Black Tortoise before dying, the Black Tortoise would suffer severe injuries and, losing the protection of the spirit bond master, would immediately be attacked by Heavenly Fire, meeting a tragic end.

But this was the Youying Domain, where there would temporarily be no Heavenly Fire attacks. As long as they re-entered deep sleep and completed self-sealing before the Youying power dissipated, Heavenly Fire wouldn’t attack them.

As for Gu Shoulu using the spirit bond to attack the Black Tortoise…

The Crimson Chi flew out from underground, opened its mouth to spit out an ice spike, and pierced it fiercely into Gu Shoulu’s forehead.

It destroyed Gu Shoulu’s spirit bond root with the ice spike.

“Crims… on… Ch… Chi… you… aren’t…” Before Gu Shoulu’s entire body froze, he looked at the Crimson Chi in disbelief.

Li Zheng said indifferently, “The Crimson Chi is Ling Qingkong’s spirit beast. After Ling Qingkong was attacked by Zhulong, it was taken away by the Spirit Beast Codex and has been in a controlled state ever since. However, no one expected that Ling Qingkong’s action of seemingly ruining Yun Xiguang’s life before his death not only saved Yun Xiguang but also gave the Crimson Chi freedom, saving us in the process.

“Before leaving, Yun Xiguang always felt uneasy. At this moment, the seven Phoenix Feathers and the two great Supreme Deities, Zhuzhao and Youying, are gathered here. If he were Zhulong, he wouldn’t miss this opportunity. He believed that Zhulong would definitely come. He knew that Wu Ailang and I had ways to protect ourselves, and we might not necessarily die even if ambushed. But he was worried about the soldiers left here, so he left the Crimson Chi here, with the Snow Wolf helping the Crimson Chi hide in the shadows. If someone were to ambush us, the Crimson Chi would be our last trump card.”

Gu Shoulu stared at the Crimson Chi, his entire body frozen, unable to utter another word.

Humans couldn’t withstand such low temperatures, and thus, he died.

He, who wanted to live, he who wanted everyone to die, met his end before anyone else.

The Black Tortoise had stronger defenses than Gu Shoulu. It emerged from underground, and the Crimson Chi approached it, staring at it.

The Black Tortoise rubbed its head against the Crimson Chi’s head before closing its eyes and falling into a deep sleep.

After it fell asleep, the surrounding black boulders suddenly weathered, and Li Zheng used whirlwinds to scatter the sand and dirt.

The sand buried the Black Tortoise and also the clam that desperately wanted to sleep.

Two divine beasts fell asleep just like that.

No one knew whether the world they faced upon waking up next time would be a world in ruins or the same as it was now.

Li Zheng looked in the direction Yun Xiguang and the others had gone, his face filled with worry.

Just as Yun Xiguang had guessed, Zhulong really did make a move.

They didn’t have Phoenix Feathers on them, nor did they have much power. Simply because they wanted to destroy these fighter jets to prevent them from providing fire support, they sent experts like Gu Shoulu to ambush them. What kind of opponents would Yun Xiguang encounter?

Would they encounter Zhulong’s true form? Would they encounter another Heaven-grade spirit bond master, Kong Haoming?

Kong Haoming controlled the Spirit Beast Codex, and Zhulong was the executor of the law. They were the ones responsible for Yun Xiguang’s parents’ deaths, the very people Yun Xiguang had been searching for as his enemies.

Did Yun Xiguang have a chance to successfully take revenge this time?

No, Yun Xiguang shouldn’t think about revenge; there were more important things than that.

If he got caught up in hatred and it affected the most critical matters, that would be a disaster.

Li Zheng looked into the distance with his hands behind his back, his frown deepening, occasionally letting out long sighs.

Wu Ailang approached Li Zheng and said carefree, “Old Li, don’t worry about Brother Yun. He could anticipate the danger we would face and arranged for the Crimson Chi to hide and protect us in advance. He must have thought that they would also be attacked and surely made preparations beforehand.”

Li Zheng looked at Wu Ailang, this disrespectful fellow, and shook his head. “Knowing something and actually doing it are two different things. Even if Yun Xiguang knew that Zhulong would come, could he remain calm once he truly faced Zhulong and the tragedies of the past? I can’t even guarantee that I wouldn’t lose my composure if I saw Kong Haoming. Yun Xiguang carries a heavy grudge; can he stay calm?”

Wu Ailang tilted his head and thought for a moment before saying seriously, “I believe Brother Yun can.”

“How can you be sure?” Li Zheng asked. “You haven’t lost your most important family members like Yun Xiguang has. How can you determine that?”

Li Zheng hadn’t lost his family, but he had lost comrades in battle multiple times. He knew that pain, and it was hard for people to move past it. Especially for someone like Yun Xiguang, who lacked paternal and maternal love during his childhood, encountering the one responsible for his tragedy would certainly make it even harder to control his emotions.

Wu Ailang listened to Li Zheng’s so-called “experience” and shook his head. “Brother Yun won’t. Brother Yun isn’t someone who lacks love. Lacking love means never receiving love from the start, always feeling unworthy of love. But Brother Yun is different. He knows his parents loved him, and he never felt unworthy of love.

“All of you thought Yun Xiguang shouldn’t become a spirit bond master, believing that a person without a spirit bond root wouldn’t gain a spirit beast’s trust. But Yun Xiguang never thought that way. He always believed that even without a spirit bond root, he could have a soul companion. Because he received abundant love from his parents, he had the ability to give such love to his spirit beast, which is why he never gave up hope.

“If Brother Yun were consumed by hatred, he would definitely be blinded by it, setting aside everything important and impulsively attacking Zhulong.

“But in Brother Yun’s heart, love weighs far more than hate. He loves Little Spirit Bird, and he admires the Azure Dragon since he was young. He loves Dean Qin and the Bai Ze, who have always been his idols, as well as me and the Snow Wolf, the two burdens. He has too many people to care for, and he won’t allow anything to happen to himself.”

Li Zheng looked at Wu Ailang, somewhat surprised. In his mind, Wu Ailang was just a lucky fool. He never expected that this fool would see love and hate so clearly.

“You’re more insightful than I imagined,” Li Zheng said.

Wu Ailang laughed. “Because I’m born disadvantaged. Diagnosed with a condition that meant I wouldn’t live past eighteen, if I complained about the world and hated it every day, I wouldn’t have been able to survive until now. I could persevere with treatments because my parents loved me, and I loved myself. I treated myself like a precious treasure, unwilling to make myself unhappy and die.

“I don’t know how Brother Yun endured the toughest times, but I know that what sustained Brother Yun all the way to today was definitely not hate but love.

“I believe in him.”